Jan. 6 panel issues new wave of subpoenas for ex-Trump officials
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
New subpoenas by a House committee suggest how they're investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. These six subpoenas focus on people close to former President Donald Trump. None of them are accused of taking part in the attack; instead, they are of interest for what they said beforehand. Michael Flynn, for example, talked of a military coup. John Eastman wrote a memo urging Vice President Mike Pence to reject the results of a democratic election. The House panel includes Democrat Adam Schiff of California.
ADAM SCHIFF: These are people who played pivotal roles at the very top of the Trump campaign who have knowledge about the big lie that the election was stolen or rigged or fraudulent, somehow, that resulted in that violent insurrection. And in order to do a comprehensive report, we really need to hear from them.
INSKEEP: NPR congressional reporter Claudia Grisales joins us now. Good morning.
CLAUDIA GRISALES, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: OK, so Michael Flynn, John Eastman and who else?
GRISALES: They include three officials who worked on Trump's 2020 reelection campaign - their ex-campaign manager Bill Stepien, Trump adviser Jason Miller and ex-campaign aide Angela McCallum. In addition, the panel issued a subpoena for Bernard Kerik. He's the former New York Police commissioner who went to federal prison for tax fraud, among other charges, but was later pardoned by Trump.
INSKEEP: Oh, Kerik remains close to Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, of course, who was the president's personal lawyer and a leader of the challenge of the election results.
GRISALES: Exactly.
INSKEEP: How do they fit into the larger story here, these six?
GRISALES: Congressman Schiff told me Trump's election - reelection campaign was part of this larger effort to urge states to delay or deny certification of electoral votes. I also talked to another member of the panel last night. This is California Democrat Zoe Lofgren. She said this is not just about the day of Jan 6 but the weeks prior.
ZOE LOFGREN: The individuals who have been sent subpoenas today were, from other reports, heavily involved in the lead-up to the riot.
GRISALES: For example, Eastman, as you mentioned, wrote that memo outlining ways that former Vice President Mike Pence could reject Joe Biden's electoral count victory. And the committee says Eastman was part of a meeting with several high-profile Trump allies, including Bernard Kerik, Jason Miller and others at the Willard Hotel the night before January 6 to plot ways on how to overturn the election's results. And then finally, we have Michael Flynn, who lawmakers say was part of a December 2020 Oval Office meeting where the seizure of voting machines and invoking a national emergency came up.
INSKEEP: Yeah, and aside from whatever he said in that private meeting, he said publicly at the time on Newsmax, I think, that it was time for martial law, that that was something that he would favor...
GRISALES: Right.
INSKEEP: ...And that he even felt would be normal. So when you look at these subpoenas together, what do they say about the direction of the investigation?
GRISALES: Both Schiff and Lofgren told me it's another reminder of the fast clip this panel is moving at. They've issued more than two dozen subpoenas now, and Schiff noted many of these are the result of witnesses who have not cooperated voluntarily without a subpoena. And the committee has talked to more than 150 witnesses voluntarily already, so they've generated significant information, and they've issued one criminal contempt referral for one witness who did not cooperate outright. That's former Trump strategist Steve Bannon. Lofgren says perhaps they're reaching the end of the first stage of this investigation.
INSKEEP: But I'm glad you mentioned that these are people who did not cooperate voluntarily. Are they going to cooperate now?
GRISALES: That's what remains to be seen. These others that face subpoenas now are still in talks with the panel, but Lofgren and Schiff told me Bannon's case is a reminder of the repercussions they could face if they don't cooperate. Bannon, of course, defied his subpoena outright over claims of executive privilege. I talked to a former House impeachment attorney about this, Norm Eisen, who noted all six of these new witnesses are also in Bannon's shoes in that they were not part of the administration on January 6.
NORM EISEN: So that means that the kinds of claims of official executive privilege that we've already seen bandied about are going to be at their weakest when it comes to these individuals.
GRISALES: So it's a reminder that this committee is prepared to take additional steps if these witnesses decide to follow in Bannon's lead.
INSKEEP: NPR's Claudia Grisales. Thanks.
GRISALES: Thanks much.
Copyright © 2021 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.